202 



INSTITUTION 

of the 

SOCIETY 

of the 



CINCINNATI 



mSTlTUTlON 



OF THE 



SOCIETY OF THE 



CINCINNATI 



•• • •• 



Printed for 

The Society of the Cincinnati in the State of 

New Jersey 



1905 



E^^ 



OFFICERS • W\X^ 



president 
Frank Landon Humphreys 

vice-president 
Franklin Davenport Howell 

secretary 
Wessel Ten Broeck Stout Imi,ay 



treasurer 
James Wall Schureman Campbell 

assistant secretary 
William McKnight Reckless 

;«* 'fet '^A<SSn3efiAKT«'?REi?SUREK 
I -**<'' ''HubrfES 1)'A*f TON** 



,<■' ,'■' R}cfKkj<^)Jljk:vls HOWKLL' 



standing committee 
Franklin Davenport Elowell, Chairman. 
William Wilmot Ballard, 
William Pancoast Barber, 
Frederick Walcoit Jackson, 
Paul Augustine Hendry, 
Henry Dusenbery Maxwell, 
Henry Applegate Wilson, 
Timothy Matlack Cheesman. 

P. 



PREFATORY NOTE 



"T"HE Society of the Cincinnati is a hereditary 
Military Order ^ instituted at the close of the 
Revolutionary War by officers who had served three 
years and had contributed one month's pay towards 
the formation of a general fund. 

The Order '" for the sake of frequent communi- 
cations " is divided into State Societies— one in each 
of the Original States — and these societies by dele- 
gates form a General Society. 

As there is but one Society of the Cincinnati 
formed under an "institution" adopted May 13, 17S3, 
which has never been amended nor changed, the 
Standing Committee of the Society in the State of 
New Jersey has directed that the "institution" 
be printed so that each member may become familiar 
with the principles and purposes of our Order. 
W. T. B. S. IMLAY, 

Secretary. 
Ridgewood, N. J., 
Sept. 10, 1903. 



ZU institution. 



Convention of the American Army— Canton- 
ment OF THE American Army, on Hudson's 
River, May ioth, 1783. 

Proposals for establishing a Society, upon princi- 
ples therein mentioned, whose Members shall be 
officers of the American Army, having been com- 
municated to the several regiments of the respect- 
ive lines, they appointed an officer from each, 
who, in conjunction with the general officers, 
should take the same into consideration at their 
meeting this day, at which the Honorable Major 
General Baron de Steuben, the senior officer 
present, was pleased to preside. 

The proposals being read, fully considered, para- 
graph by paragraph, and the amendments agreed to, 
Major General Knox, Brigadier General 
Hand, Brigadier General Huntington and 
Captain Shaw, were chosen to revise the same, 
and to prepare a copy to be laid before this assem- 
bly at their next meeting, to be holden at Major 
General Baron de Steuben's quarters, on Tues- 
day, the 13th instant. 

5 



Tuesday 13th May, 17S3. 

The representatives of the American Army being 
assembled, agreeably to adjournment, the plan for 
establishing a Society, whereof the officers of the 
American Army are to be members, is accepted, 
and is as follows, viz.: 

" It having pleased the Supreme Governor of the 
Universe, in the disposition of human affairs, to 
cause the separation of the colonies of North 
America from the dominion of Great Britain, and, 
after a bloody conflict of eight years, to establish 
them free, independent and sovereign States, con- 
nected, by alliances founded on reciprocal advant- 
ages, with some of the great princes and powers of 
the earth. 

" To perpetuate, therefore, as well the remem- 
brance of this vast event, as the mutual friendships 
which have been formed under the pressure of com- 
mon danger, and, in many instances, cemented by 
the blood of the parties, the officers of the American 
Army do hereby, in the most solemn manner, asso- 
ciate, constitute and combine themselves into one 
Society of Friends, to endure as long as they 
shall endure, or any of their eldest male posterity, 
and, in failure thereof, the collateral branches who 



may be judged worthy of becoming its supporters 
and Members. 

" The officers of the American Army having gen- 
erally been taken from the citizens of America, 
possess high veneration for the character of that 
illustrious Roman, Lucius Quintius Cincinnatus; 
and being resolved to follow his example, by return- 
ing to their citizenship, they think they may with 
propriety denominate themselves — 

Cbe Society of tbe etncinttdtl 

" The following principles shall be im- 
mutable AND FORM THE BASIS OF THE SOCIETY 

OF THE Cincinnati. 

"An incessant attention to preserve in- 
violate THOSE rights AND LIBERTIES OF HUMAN 
NATUR.E FOR WHICH THEY HAVE FOUGHT AND 
BLED, AND WITHOUT WHICH THE HIGH RANK OF A 
RATIONAL BEING IS A CURSE INSTEAD OF A BLESSING, 

"An UNALTERABLE DETERMINATION TO PROMOTE 
AND CHERISH, BETWEEN THE RESPECTIVE STATES, 
THAT UNION AND NATIONAL HONOR SO ESSENTIAL- 
LY NECESSARY TO THEIR HAPPINESS, AND THE 
FUTURE DIGNITY OF THE AMERICAN EMPIRE. 



" To RENDER PERMANENT THE CORDIAL AFFEC- 
TION SUBSISTING AMONG THE OFFICERS. ThIS 
SPIRIT WILL DICTATE BROTHERLY KINDNESS IN ALL 
THINGS, AND PARTICULARLY, EXTEND TO THE 
MOST SUBSTANTIAL ACTS OF BENEFICENCE, ACCORD- 
ING TO THE ABILITY OF THE SOCIETY, TOWARDS 
THOSE OFFICERS AND THEIR FAMILIES. WHO UN- 
FORTUNATELY MAY BE UNDER THE NECESSITY OF 
RECEIVING IT. 

" The General Society will, for the sake of fre- 
quent communications, be divided into State So- 
cieties, and these again into such districts as shall 
be directed by the State Society. 

" The Societies of the districts to meet as often 
as shall be agreed upon by the State Society, those 
of the State on the fourth day of July annually, or 
oftener, if they shall find it expedient, and the 
General Society on the first Monday in May, an- 
nually, so long as they shall deem it necessary, and 
afterwards, at least once in every three years. 

"At each meeting, the principles of the Institu- 
tion will be fully considered, and the best measures 
to promote them adopted. 

" The State Societies will consist of all the mem- 
bers resident in each State respectively ; and any 



member removing from one Stale to another, is to 
be considered, in all respects, as belonging to the 
Society of the State in which he shall actually 
reside. 

"The State Societies to have a President, Vice- 
President, Secretary, Treasurer, and Assistant 
Treasurer, to be chosen annually, by a majority of 
•votes, at the State meeting. 

" Each State meeting shall write annually, or 
oftener, if necessary, a circular letter, to the other 
State Societies, noting whatever they may think 
worthy of observation, respecting the good of the 
Society, or the general union of the States, and 
giving information of the officers chosen for the 
current year ; copies of these letters shall be regu- 
larly transmitted to the Secretary-General of the 
Society, who will record them in a book to be as- 
signed for that purpose. 

" The State Society will regulate everything res- 
pecting itself and the Societies of its districts con- 
sistent with the general maxims of the Cincinnati, 
judge of the qualifications of the members who may 
be proposed, and expel any member who, by a con- 
duct inconsistent with a gentleman and a man of 
honor, or by an opposition to the interests of the 



community in general, or the Society in particular, 
may render himself unworthy to continue a member. 

"In order to form funds which may be respect- 
able, and assist the unfortunate, each officer shall 
deliver to the Treasurer of the State Society one 
month's pay, which shall remain for ever to the use 
of the State Society ; the interest only of which, if 
necessary, to be appropriated to the relief of the 
unfortunate. 

" Donations may be made by persons not of the 
Society, and by members of the Society, for the ex- 
press purpose of forming permanent funds for the 
use of the State Society, and the interests of these 
donations appropriated in the same manner as that 
of the month's pay. 

'' Moneys, at the pleasure of each member, may 
be subscribed in the Societies of the districts, or 
the State Societies, for the relief of the unfortunate 
members, or their widows and orphans, to be ap- 
propriated by the State Society only. 

" The meeting of the General Society shall con- 
sist of its officers and a representation from each 
State Society, in number not exceeding five, whose 
expenses shall be borne by their respective State 
Societies, 

10 



" In the general meeting, the President, Vice- 
President, Secretary, Treasurer, and Assistant 
Treasurers-General, shall be chosen, to serve until 
the next meeting. 

" The circular letters which have been written by 
the respective State Societies to each other, and 
their particular laws, shall be read and considered, 
and all measures concerted which may conduce to 
the general intendment of the Society. 

"It is probable that some persons miy make 
donations to the General Society, for the purpose of 
establishing funds for the further comfort of the un- 
fortunate, in which case, such donations must be 
placed in the hands of the Treasurer General, the 
interests only of which to be disposed of, if neces- 
sary, by the general meeting. 

"All the officers of the American army, as well as 
those who have resigned with honor, after three 
years service in the capacity of officers, or w'ho have 
been deranged by the resolutions of Congress, upon 
the several reforms of the army, as those who shall 
have continued to the end of the war, have the right 
to become parties to this Institution ; provided that 
they subscribe one month's pay, and sign their 
names to the general rules, in their respective State 

11 



Societies, those who are present with the Army im- 
mediately, and others within six months after the 
Army shall be disbanded, extraordinary cases ex- 
cepted ; the rank, time of service, resolution of 
Congress by which any have been deranged, and 
place of residence must be added to each name — 
and as a testimony of affection to the memory and 
the offspring of such officers as have died in the 
service, their eldest male branches shall have the 
same right of becoming members, as the children of 
the actual members of the Society. 

" Those officers who are foreigners, not resident 
in any of the States, will have their names enrolled 
by the Secretary-General, and are to be considered 
as members of the Societies of any of the States in 
which they may happen to be. 

"And as there are, and will at all times be, men 
in the respective States eminent for their abilities 
and patriotism, whose views may be directed to the 
same laudable objects with those of the Cincinnati, 
it shall be a rule to admit such characters, as Hon- 
orary Members of the Society, for their own lives 
only : Provided always, That the number of Honor- 
ary members, in each State, does not exceed a ratio 
of one to four of the officers or their descendants. 



"Each State Society shall obtain a list of its 
members, and at the first annual meeting, the State 
Secretary shall have engrossed, on parchment, two 
copies of the Institution of the Society, which every 
member present shall sign, and the Secretary shall 
endeavor to procure the signature of every absent 
member ; one of those lists to be transmitted to the 
Secretary- General to be kept in the archives of the 
Society, and the other to remain in the hands of the 
State Secretary. From the State Lists, the Secre- 
tary-General must make out, at the first general 
meeting, a complete list of the whole Society, with 
a copy of which he will furnish each State Society. 

" The Society shall have an Order, by which its 
members shall be known and distinguished, which 
shall be a medal of gold, of a proper size to receive 
the emblem?, and suspended by a deep blue riband 
two inches wide, edged with white, descriptive of 
the union of France and America, viz. : 

" The principal figure, Cincinnatus : Three Sen- 
ators with a sword and other military ensigns — on 
a field in the back-ground, his wife standing at the 
door of their Cottage — near it a plough and instru- 
ments of husbandry. Round the whole, Om^iia 
Reliquit Servare Remptiblicam. On the reverse, 
sun rising— a city with open gates, and vessels en- 

13 



tering the port — Fame crowning Cincinnatus with 
a wreath, inscribed Viriictis Praemium. Below, 
hands joined, supporting a heart, with the motto, 
Esifl Perpetjta. Round the whole, Societas Cincin- 
iiatorum Instituta. A. D. 1 783." 

The Society, deeply impressed with a sense of the 
generous assistance this country has received from 
France, and desirous of perpetuating the friendships 
which have been formed, and so happily subsisted, 
between the officers of the allied forces, in the prose- 
cution of the war, direct, that the President General 
transmit, as soon as may be, to each of the characters 
hereafter named, a medal containing the Order of 
the Society, viz : 
His Excellency the Chevalier de la Luzerne, 

Minister Plenipotentiary, 
His Excellency the Sieur Girard, late Minister 

Plenipotentiary. 
Their Excellencies, 

The Count de Estaing, 

The Count de Grasse, 

The Count de Barras, 

The Chevalier de Touches, 

Admirals and Commanders in the Navy, 
14 



His Excellency the Count de Rochambeau, Com- 
mander in Chief, 
And the Generals and Colonels of his army, and 

acquaint them, that the Society does itself the honor 

to consider them members. 

Resolved, That a copy of tlie foregoing Institution 
be given to the senior officer of each State line, and 
that the officers of the respective State lines sign 
their names to the same, in manner and form fol- 
lowing, viz.: 

" We, the subscribers, officers of the American 
army, do hereby voluntarily become parties to the 
foregoing Institution, and do bind ourselves to ob- 
serve, and be governed by, the principles therein 
contained. For the performance whereof we do 
solemnly pledge to each other our sacred honor. 

" Done in the Cantonment, on Hudson's river, 
in the year 17S3." 



15 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




